The Maze Runner (2014)

The Maze Runner Synopsis

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, young Thomas is deposited in a community of boys after his memory is erased, soon learning they're all trapped in a maze that will require him to join forces with fellow "runners" for a shot at escape.

In the past few years, movie franchises based on young adult novels have found a fairly simple way to generate extra sequels once the source material has run out: split the final book into two films. This pattern has proven to be fairly successful thus far, but not every young adult adaptation is following this course. Take, for example, The Maze Runner movies.

The Maze Runner, based on yet another series of young adult books set in a sci-fi-ish, post-apocolyptic-ish world took first place, but only banked $32 million. That's a modest showing at best, well short of openings like Divergent's $54 million debut in March and the hugely successful Hunger Games franchise and its triple digit bow ins. Still, Maze Runner's $32 million start isn't bad when compared with its equally modest budget of $34 million, making it a viable, if not wildly successful, financial franchise.

It's no secret that in Hollywood all success is followed by developments of a sequel, as young-adult adaptation The Maze Runner is the latest feature to fall into that pattern. The movie made big money in its first three days of release this weekend, and now 20th Century Fox is celebrating that win with an announcement of a Maze Runner 2.... and it's coming sooner than you might think.

Here are the 10 biggest changes I noticed in my screening of Twentieth Century Foxís The Maze Runner. Plenty of other details were changed, of course, and feel free to remark on any changes you feel may have been more noticeable. There are many spoilers in The Maze Runner book to movie comparison.

When it comes to budding filmmaker technology, creating an immersive theatrical experience is the name of the game. In the last few years weíve seen the immense growth of formats like 3D and IMAX, with filmmakers like James Cameron and Christopher Nolan pushing boundaries to see what new cameras and tech can do, but now weíre even stepping beyond that. This summer we saw the arrival of the first 4DX theater in the United States, and soon we will be seeing the growth and expanse of a whole new format: Barco Escape.

Hollywood has never had a problem picking books to bring to the big screen, in a dash for cash from fans around the world. But they could be doing one big thing to increase their reach with literary adaptations.

There are a bunch of movies on the docket this week as we cycle out of the summer and into the fall season. There is some interesting stuff coming along, with teens running mazes, families sitting extended shiva, walking among tombstones and Kevin Smith doing some weird stuff.

It was only about five years ago that James Cameron's Avatar changed the world's perspective on the cinematic experience and both IMAX and 3D. And while we've seen some marvelous titles take advantage of both formats in the time since, the reality is that the industry is now regularly looking for a way to stay fresh and innovative.

This is actually a pretty great trailer, building the suspense and mystery and leading into some diverse, well-shot action sequences. Obviously there's someone out there posing a menace, but there's the maze itself, which promises the illusion of escape.

Directed by newcomer Wes Ball, The Maze Runner begins as a young man named Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) wakes up one morning on a dirty elevator taking him up towards a mysterious walled community known as The Glade. Within the walls of his new home he finds a group of boys his age and discovers that he has no memory who he is other than his first name.

In a matter of hours, MTV will debut the first trailer for Wes Ball's adaptation of James Dashner's The Maze Runner. In the meantime, Fox has offered us a teaser that gives us a look at what appears to be Dylan O'Brien's arrival into the Glade. As a bonus, the official poster has arrived for the movie, and it's pretty spectacular.

It seems like we've seen more than a few open-mouthed reaction shots of the characters in Wes Ball's Maze Runner adaptation. It's a little bit maddening in some respects, as we're constantly being teased about what the characters are looking at, without being privy to their view.

The feature adaptation of James Dashner's The Maze Runner managed to make it to the semi-finals of MTV's movie brawl, which is a fair indication that fans are very excited about this movie. So they should be pleased to see the latest still for the film, which gives us a look at four of the characters trapped inside a mysterious place called The Glades.

Since Fox moved the feature adaptation of James Dashner's young adult book The Maze Runner from Valentine's Day to next Fall, we haven't heard much about the film. Given the sizable scheduling shift, that's not all that surprising, but fans of the book have likely been hopeful for a new peek at the film, even if they have to wait until September to see it.

What follows is a list of fourteen books whose film adaptations are either already in production or quickly heading in that direction. Some of them probably arenít your cups of tea, but if you look hard enough, I guarantee youíll find a few gems among this pile. Beyond that, youíll probably hit on a few classics worth rediscovering too.

It looks like Fox has done a bit of date shuffling, and in the process it means fans of James Dashner's The Maze Runner will have to wait a bit longer to see the feature adaptation. The film was expected to arrive in theaters next Valentine's Day, but has now been moved to September.

At quick glance, the above photo for The Maze Runner almost looks like a group shot of the cast taken on set. Captioned and cataloged on Facebook as a "thank you gift" from the film's director Wes Ball in response to the many questions submitted by fans for yesterday's Maze Runner Twitter chat, it's even easier to see how we might think we're looking at a happy group photo. But take a closer look and you'll see a couple things that reveal this image as a still from the film.

The above video went up on the Maze Runner Facebook page today, following the wrap-up of the big Live Twitter Chat that took place. Leading up to the big event, fans were treated to a number of character cards, which give us an up-close look at the cast in character for the film.

Fox is wasting now time sharing content from the feature adaptation-in-progress for James Dashner's The Maze Runner. Earlier this week, we got our first glimpse of some stills from the movie, and in anticipation of an upcoming Twitter chat, we're starting to see some great character cards, which give us an up-close look at some of the characters, including the story's protagonist Thomas, as seen above, portrayed by Teen Wolf's Dylan O'Brien.

Earlier today, The Maze Runner author James Dashner teased fans by Tweeting, "If I were you, I'd stay very close to Twitter the next few days." And sure enough, a little while later, a handful of images for the upcoming feature adaptation of the first novel in Dashner's series makes its way online, revealing star Dylan O'Brien and some of the other cast from the film, which arrives in theaters next Valentine's Day.

Patricia Clarkson won me over the moment she looked into John Coffey's eyes and told him, "I dreamed you were wandering in the dark. And so was I. And we found each other. We found each other in the dark." And then, more than a decade after The Green Mile hit theaters, she won me over again in Easy A when she she quite candidly admitted to her onscreen daughter that she had a horrible reputation when she was younger and that she slept with a whole bunch of people. "Mostly guys."

Kids being put into dangerous situations is a recurring theme in these stories, especially when we consider The Hunger Games and Summit's upcoming adaptation of Ender's Game. James Dashner's Maze Runner series fits the bill there.

Itís one thing that Twitter has made a huge dent in the way that news gets revealed, but itís another thing entirely to consider Twitter actually being used to make the news itself. This is a story about how young actor Blake Cooper was able to use social media site to land a role in the upcoming film The Maze Runner

The feature adaptation of James Dashner's young adult novel The Maze Runner has found its leading male, and it's a face that should be very familiar to those who tune in to MTV's Teen Wolf. Dylan O'Brien, who plays Stiles in the MTV drama, has been tapped to play the role of Thomas in the sci-fi film.